Farewell Avid C24 - You Have Served Us Well. This Pro Tools Control Surface Is Approaching End Of Life Or Is It?

The Avid Pro Tools C|24 control surface is coming to the end of its life. As we mentioned in our comprehensive History Of Pro Tools, Avid announced the end-of-life date of the much-loved C24 as 31st December 2017, with an end of support date 5 years later as 31st December 2022.

Over the last ten years, the C|24 has been pretty much in a class of its own in the Pro Tools control surface sector. There has not been any serious "like for like" rivals from other manufacturers to match the C|24's feature set and/or price point.

Its 10-year lifespan was certainly better than its predecessor the Digidesign Control 24 which was a current product from 2001 to 2007. However, any Control 24 owners have been thrown a lifeline by Neyrinck as both the Contol 24 and Pro Control legacy control surfaces will now work with current versions of Pro Tools using V-Control Pro from Neyrinck.

Still Listed As A Current Product

Although the Pro Tools C24 is still listed on Avid's website as a current product, throughout the year it has become harder and harder to buy one as dealer's stock is depleted.

Avid defines the Final Sale Date is the last day a product is available for sale, which in the case of the C24 was December 31st 2017. Whereas the last day Avid will offer support for the C24 is 5 years later on December 31st 2022.

Is It Still Worth buying a C24?

The simple answer is yes. As we have said on many occasions, there is nothing to touch it in terms of bang-for-buck. Its 24 faders and deep integration with Pro Tools has so much going for it. Check out Dan Cooper's excellent premium video tutorial in which Dan shows you the features he uses on his C24 control surface his daily Pro Tools workflow.

The C24 is still supported with Pro Tools 2018 in Avid's current compatibility documents and likely to remain supported for a while yet as Avid defines the End of Support as the date from which all forms of service and technical support for a product cease, which in the case of the C24 is 31st December 2022, so there is still some life in the old dog yet.

Looking at the 2018 Pro Tools compatibility documents, we can see that even products that have past their end of support dates like the 3rd Generation Mbox Mini are still listed as supported by Pro Tools 2018. Let's take a closer look at all the Avid interfaces and control surfaces listed in the Pro Tools 2018 compatibility documents and see what we can learn...

Supported Interface with Pro Tools 2018

Final Sale Date

End of Support Date

MBox 3

August 30th 2014

August 30th 2019

MBox Mini 3

April 22nd 2013

April 22nd 2018

MBox Pro 3

March 1st 2015

March 1st 2020

Eleven Rack

Current Product

Current Product

Pro Tools | Quartet

31st December 2016

31st December 2021

Pro Tools | Duet

31st December 2016

31st December 2021

Fast Track C600

11th February 2013

11th February 2018

Fast Track C400

11th February 2013

11th February 2018

Fast Track Duo

25th May 2014

25th May 2019

Fast Track Solo

25th May 2014

25th May 2019

Things may change when all the 3rd generation Mboxes pass their end-of-support date, and similarly, with all the Fast Track interfaces, we will have to wait and see.

Moving onto control surfaces...

Supported Control Surface with Pro Tools 2018

Final Sale Date

End of Support Date

S6

Current Product

Current Product

System 5 & S5 Fusion

March 31st 2016

March 31st 2021

S3

Current Product

Current Product

Pro Tools | Dock

Current Product

Current Product

Pro Tools | Control

Current Product

Current Product

Artist Control

June 30th 2016

June 30th 2021

Artist Mix

Current Product

Current Product

Artist Transport

January 1st 2016

January 1st 2021

Artist Color

December 31st 2017

December 31st 2022

D-Control ES

August 31st 2013

August 31st 2018

D-Command ES

August 31st 2013

August 31st 2018

C|24

December 31st 2017

December 31st 2022

What Can We Draw From This?

It is clear that Avid is honouring and exceeding software support and is continuing to support products that have passed their end-of-support date when it comes to Pro Tools support, so even if you get a new C24, based on Avid's current track record you should get at least 5 years usage from it.

What About The D-Control ES And D-Command ES?

Whilst we are looking at end-of-life and control surfaces what about the last of the Icon control surfaces, the D-Control ES and D-Command ES? Their end-of-support date is August 31st 2018 but it would seem that Avid is currently continuing to support them with Pro Tools, even though they are now end-of-life. How long for, is not information we are privy to and the D-Control ES and D-Command ES were the last of the Icon control surfaces and there is now no guarantee of hardware support and spare part availability, so when a moving fader wears out you may not be able to get a replacement.

So maybe we are a little premature to say farewell to the C24 control surface, it may now be difficult to buy a new one as stocks dwindle but looking at Avid's record on support of end-of-life products there is still a good few years life left in the Pro Tools C|24 control surface.

Even when Avid does eventually discontinue software support for the C24 working with a future version of Pro Tools the developments Neyrinck has made with V-Control Pro will probably mean that there will continue to be a way of using a C24 with Pro Tools.